50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Five

Have you read Another Day in the Death of America Remus? I know our tastes tend not to overlap, but I know several other people on here have read and recommended it.

I'll definitely add In Other Lands to my TBR list Tanaqui, thank-you for the recommendation. (Off on a long train journey tomorrow, but I've already bought two books for that so can't really justify another!)

I guarantee that Against Nature by J-K Huysmans doesn’t fall into any of your categories, Remus. You might hate it but it won’t bore you. I’m due my once-a-decade reread of it. In fact, I may put it to the top of the TBR pile. Insane and if I remember rightly, contains a whole section about being dissatisfied with one’s reading choices.

@Sadik, I didn't see your review above before I posted; if you haven't read In Other Lands, I think you might love it - to me it is funny like Heyer and Jones are funny.

@Remus, don't read A Little Life! How about having a reading ban - watch TV, podcasts, films - forbid yourself to read for a fortnight, or a month? Or sit down with a pencil and write the book you would like to read right now!

I often enjoy John Scalzi's blog, possibly more than the books of his I have read.

I have lost count (and possibly my marbles, life has been insane!), but I have read one book I loved and one I was very immersed in, so definitely a win.

I loved Sarah Rees Brennan's In Other Lands. I am a big fan of hers anyway, and this was first published in parts on her blog (as The Turn of the Story), so I had read it in pieces before. However, all at once and somewhat edited, it hit all my buttons - it's a YA fantasy, but it's funny and snarky and detailed and clever and character driven and long (and funny). I loved it. If you like Diana Wynne Jones/ Margaret Mahy/ Sarah Monette then totally give this a go.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. If you have ever read h/c fan fiction (or possibly some h/nc), then this is familiar territory, but it is really very well done. Long, well balanced over time, wide cast of characters that ebb and flow, I found this world absorbing. On reflection, it has irritations - how can everyone be so successful? Why does the hyper intelligent central character never try therapy (the long time frame of the novel makes this harder to believe, it might have worked better over a few shorter years)? Why does the whole time frame seem current?, but as an emotional experience/ fable about love it mostly worked for me. Apparently it's very long (I read it on kindle), but it didn't feel it.

I am genuinely trying to think of a book that does not fit into your boredom categories and struggling. I haven't read an amazing book for a long time either, to be honest.

Remus, is it possible you’re bored?

Remus I felt like that and read Rachel's Holiday. Not my usual cup of tea at all but I chuckled all the way through

Oh dear remus. You sound a bit bored.

Keep falling off the thread.

I'm BORED. Bored of rubbish books. Bored of mediocre books. Bored of writers who churn out the same old stuff over and over again. Bored of non-fiction books which are inadequately punctuated or paragraphed. Bored of crime, and Communism and stupid attempts at comedy which aren't comic, and writers claiming to give me answers to things whilst giving me no answers. Bored of love stories, and loss stories and love and loss stories and love that springs out of loss stories and stories where everybody hates each other. Bored.

What the bloody hell can I read?

Didn't know there was a sequel to Children of Time - thanks for both the heads up and the review PowerBadger (and welcome).

Mainly re-reads here, plus no. 3 of the DTTMOT books.

48. Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O Neill
    Exploration of some of the problems and issues around the way big data is affecting people's lives - from school rankings to credit scores. I read this first a year or so back, but wanted to re-visit it in the light of other books I've read since.

49. Band Sinister by KJ Charles
    
    Delighful Heyer pastiche, another re-read, this time because I needed something funny and zero effort after a long day.

50. The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell
    Third in the Dance to The Music of Time series, listened to on audio. Won't review this as it's been covered a number of times on previous conversations, but it was an excellent note on which to reach book no. 50. I'm enjoying these more and more as the series progresses, and I'd particularly recommend the audio, they're exceptionally well read.

51. The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
    I recommended D W-J to someone, and it reminded me that I've been meaning to re-visit this for a while. Nick lives on our earth, though he comes from a parallel world, while Arianrhod (aka Roddy) lives in Blest, yet another parallel world in which magic and ritual form the backbone of life. They end up working together to stop a plot to take over Blest and it's magic. As always with D W-J, it's not really the plot so much as the world & the characters which form the centre of the book. Sadly I don't think there's a sequel to this one (Nick features in a previous book, but not Roddy), which is a shame as it's very enjoyable.

Hi PowerBadger, I like your username

40. Monkeys with Typewriters - Scarlett Thomas Novelist and creative writing teacher Scarlett Thomas shares what she has learned about how plots work, and how to go about writing a novel. This will enhance my understanding of novelistic structure and what makes a piece of writing good or bad, even if I never go on to produce my own work. Very readable (almost conversational), plus it's got a monkey on the cover, so a winner for me.

Thanks Desdemona

Thanks fish wish I'd got a signed copy now.
Welcome PowerBadger slide right in and join us

Hello, I was hoping I could slide onto this thread halfway through the year. I have just got back into reading seriously after a very long period of not really being able to read much at all and would love to join in the conversation and share.

As my first offering here are the last few books I've read:

1. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

1. Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch

1. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

As you can see I am currently leaning heavily into the SF and Fantasy at the moment. I've just started Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds and have The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie on audiobook.

I loved A Thousand Ships! Give it a go (I'm on the This a
Thing of Darkness team too). Really enjoying We, the survivors so far too - written as an interview with a poor SE Asian man and his ascent out of poverty.

16. The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

This was more Dutch and less Japanese than I (probably wrongly) anticipated. It covers the life of a Dutch man sequestered to Dejima, at that time Japan’s only trading point with the western world. There aren’t many likeable characters, or locations, but the love story amidst the despair keeps the story going. A will they-won’t they love story set amongst dodgy dealings, crooked people in power, and a worse than sinister temple/cult set up. Beautifully written, as it’s David Mitchell, although some parts seemed unnecessarily long and convoluted. That could have just been me being knackered when reading it though!

17. Six Stories, Matt Wesolowski This is a book in a podcast style. Or a podcast in a book style? A pook? A bodcast? The story of a missing teenager is told in the style of a Serial- type podcast. I wasn’t so fond of the parts narrated by the podcast host, and some of the interviews were a touch awkward, but the parts which were written “normally” were much better. The story took a few interesting turns, and I like that the missing boy wasn’t written to draw sympathy, but was a bit of a twat from the start. Definitely a decent read if you like type of story.

The Spare Room packs quite a punch, doesn't it, Pencil? Iirc it was based on elements of Helen Garner's own experience - she often does this in her fiction. I really like her writing. I'd recommend her non-fiction books, which examine crimes or legal cases, and in those she gets very involved herself....they're fascinating though (because of the subject matter) certainly not easy reads.

@fishonabicycle what did you think of the seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle? I gave up on that...

17. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – DH Lawrence

Whilst I can appreciate that this book was scandalous when it was written and caused quite a sensation with its subject matter and explicit content, I’m not sure if I have somehow missed the point of the book. It was ok, but nothing special. None of the characters were very likeable and the pacing was poor. I believe it was the author’s final novel and I don’t feel inclined to read any of his earlier works after this one.

fishonabicycle what did you think of A Thousand Ships? I saw Natalie Haynes talk at The Borders Book Festival at the weekend and she was excellent, she read an extract from the book, which sounded interesting, but having read Circe and with Song Of Achilles on my Kindle I didn't give in to temptation.

Sorry Fortuna!

I didn't mind daisy and the 6!

two Australian Helens to begin with:-
The Spare Room by Helen Garner - the author has her cancer-suffering friend to stay so that she can pursue some alternative treatment for the disease. Well-written but upsetting and a reminder of how desperate people can be to try anything in in the pursuit of a cure. This is so vividly written that the author must be drawing on her own personal experience.
Dead Lovely by Helen Fitzgerald - billed as "black comedy/chic-lit" but a bit too grim for me although written in an engaging, page-turning style. The review on the back by "the Big Issue" says the book "succeeds thanks to an off-beat absurdist sense of humour that turns the book's disturbing and obscene topics into a startlingly original comic talent". My lips might have twitched once or twice but it certainly was not laugh out loud stuff.
Cockfosters by Helen Simpson - she has been turning out a volume or so of short stories every ten years more or less & they all seem to be in her voice. She has now reached middle age and reflects on all the drabness, grey hair, ill-health and bad-temper that so often accompanies it. Well written & observed & the sort of thing that makes you want to revamp your wardrobe and do new things - if only you could be bothered.

The soul of kindness by Elizabeth Taylor well written middle-class ladies' library book type of novel reflecting a time during the 60s when it was still commonplace to have a housekeeper or domestic servant and not go out to work either, if you were fortunate. Also evokes the tired & dusty feeling of ungentrified London & the struggle for those without a private income to get by which is something inconceivable for the title character, Flora as she does not acknowledge anything unpleasant or which might spoil her easy life.
Daisy and the six got such a panning upthread I didn't bother to open it. Likewise Viv Albertine - too much "warts and all" and "dirty linen in public" for me - as a self-acknowledged squeamish prude.